The University Museum was designed by an Irish firm, and built at a cost of £60,000 in around 1860. Ruskin was to some extent involved, but it is said that when he erected one of the gallery columns with his own hand, the workmen took it down and rebuilt it. These columns are all made of different kinds of stone found in the British Isles, and there are many carvings of flora and fauna.

Over the archway at the entrance a number of carvings are unfinished. Apparently an Irish workman was discovered interspersing parrots and owls with caricatures of contemporary dons – and was ordered to knock their heads off.

The building has, we think, great charm, though it is often denigrated. The collection is rather in the nature of the museum itself – a Victorian style treasure chest of odd bits of natural history.

Among these are the last remains (feet and a few feathers) of the Dodo, together with a copy of a fine painting dating from 1851. The original stuffed bird, which had been housed in the Tradescant Collection at the Ashmolean since 1683 was found to be infested with moths when the time came to move it, and had to be burnt.